The US Department of Energy (DOE) said it has issued two long-term orders authorizing an additional 0.5 billion cubic feet per day of liquefied natural gas exports from the Golden Pass and Magnolia LNG projects.
The orders allow Golden Pass to export the equivalent of an additional 0.35 Bcf/d and Magnolia to export an additional 0.15 Bcf/d of LNG to any country not prohibited by US law or policy, DOE said in a statement.
DOE had previously issued long-term non-free trade agreement export orders for the majority of the projects’ capacities, with Magnolia’s authorization for 1.08 Bcf/d in 2016 and an authorization for 2.21 Bcf/d issued to Golden Pass in 2017.
The two orders issued on Wednesday align the projects’ respective export authorizations to additional capacity that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had approved for the projects based on optimized project designs, it said.
Golden Pass, jointly owned by QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil, is currently under construction in Sabine Pass, Texas, with first exports expected in 2024.
On the other side, Glenfarne is looking to build the Magnolia facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
The US is the largest global producer of oil and natural gas and a net exporter of energy.
“US fuel supplies, including LNG, continue to play a key role in global energy security, particularly due to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” DOE said.
US LNG exports have recently reached new highs of approximately 12 Bcf/d. DOE expects LNG exports to grow to more than 13 Bcf/d by the end of this year as additional export capacity comes online.